Austin played host to DreamHack’s inaugural U.S. tour in 2016 — and again in 2017. Following the Austin festival, DreamHack’s final U.S. stop of the year will be Atlanta, GA in November.

“We’re thrilled to bring DreamHack back to the great city of Austin,” said DreamHack Chief Executive Officer Marcus Lindmark. “This year’s festival is bigger and better than ever — from the PUBG Showdown to the FGC tournaments, from the LAN party to professional esports, to live EDM music to the celebrity hosted Cosplay Championship — the DreamHack experience truly has no equal.”

DreamHack is a gaming lifestyle festival where communities from all walks of gaming life come together for a three-day weekend of celebrating digital culture IRL (in real life). DreamHack Austin features a 24-hour-a-day Local Area Network (LAN) party; esports gaming competitions; university matches; stream studio; console, PC and arcade games; tabletop games; expo; Cosplay championship; art gallery; indie game zone; main stage with live music (Friday night); panel discussions, workshops and keynote speakers; and a host of other activities. Gamers can participate or watch professionals compete in esports tournaments with hundreds of thousands of prize dollars on the line.

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG)
PUBG has taken the gaming world by storm, and a $100,000 tournament at DreamHack will feature Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) squads competing for a slot in the main competition. In addition, online players are duking it out to earn their way to DreamHack Austin.

DreamHack Open Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Now in its seventh year, the DreamHack Open pro-am circuit includes Austin in this year’s list of 8 international stops, with $100,000 on the line. The event will consist of six direct invites issued to teams, based on merit, through ranking and results. Teams will have the chance to qualify for the remaining two slots via online qualifiers — one held in the European region, and one in North America (full announcement here).

Cosplay
DreamHack Austin’s Cosplay Championship will reach an all new level with the arrival of celebrity head judge Yaya Han joining the team. Yaya Han is one of only a few cosplayers in the world to build a business in this hobbyist community. After a decade of success, she strives to stay true to what got her into this field originally — fun and creativity. To this day, Yaya has made more than 375 costumes, appeared as a guest at hundreds of events around the globe, and been featured in two U.S. network TV, shows. Yaya is the first cosplayer to create a cosplay-focused fabric line for Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores; the first to design a cosplay patterns line for a major pattern company, McCall Patterns; and the first cosplayer to launch a sewing machine with Bernina Sewing Machine Company. Additional celebrity cosplay guests in attendance include Meg Turney, Jennifer Van Damsel, Pokket and Wes/WesTheEditor (Smosh Games).

Esports Documentary Screening and Keynote Event

Screening of John Keeting’s Gamechangers: Dreams of Blizzcon, Sat, June 2 | 8:30pm
This groundbreaking feature-length documentary, Gamechangers: Dreams of BlizzCon®, explores the thrilling realm of professional esports. As seen through the eyes of two of the world’s best StarCraft® II players – Mun “MMA” Seong Won and Jang “MC” Min Chul – viewers experience the high-pressure, high-stakes lifestyle of professional esports. With striking visuals and a mesmerizing original score, the film goes behind the scenes and reveals these two competitors’ personal journeys that led them into the world of gaming and eventually to become champions on the global stage.

Main Stage Keynote Event, Sun, June 3 | 4:30pm
Meet and talk with the production team behind the feature-film documentary Gamechangers: Dreams of BlizzCon — Meet the film’s star and two-time Starcraft Champion Jang “MC” Min Chul along with film and television director John Keating and Wild West Productions producers Zachary Henderson and Peter Billingsley.

DreamHack Selects ‘Save the Children’ as Global Charity Beneficiary
DreamHack is proud to be a supporter of global humanitarian organization Save the Children in 2018. Save the Children will have a presence in the Expo at DreamHack Austin, Atlanta, Summer and Winter, giving attendees an opportunity to learn more about the organization’s work, including a virtual reality experience. During these events, charity streamers will work together in an effort to raise at least $100,000 as part of Save the Children’s Stream Team: creators who game, stream or vlog to help save kids in need. DreamHack will also offer limited edition merchandise to support the cause.

Save the Children’s End of Childhood Report is released every year to commemorate International Children’s Day on June 1. The report takes a hard look at the events that rob children around the world of their childhoods and prevent them from reaching their full potential. The report also includes an index of 175 countries, ranking the best and worst places in the world for children to have a safe, secure and healthy childhood.

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In the U.S. and around the world, Save the Children gives children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. They do whatever it takes for children — every day and in times of crisis — transforming their lives and the future we share.

Additional DreamHack Austin Highlights

LAN PartyDreamHack Austin offers pro and casual gamers the opportunity to bring their own gaming rigs, hook into a LAN socket powered by one of the world’s fastest internet connections, and get their game on. Attendees have the option to play around the clock for three days straight, either just for fun or to compete in BYOC tournaments where $18,000 in cash prizes is on the line. Some BYOC tournaments even offer gamers the opportunity to win their way to professional stages where as much as $100,000 is on the line.

Collegiate Esports
The DreamHack and AVGL Collegiate Series is hosting a nationwide, online League of Legends qualifying league with grand finals held in Austin — along with League of Legends grudge matches, a Rocket League tournament featuring regional teams, and mobile esports grudge matches.

League of Legends: The online league featured over 100 college teams who competed over five weeks to earn a spot at the Austin grand finals. The top two teams who will compete in Austin will be the RMU Eagles and Laval University. Regional college rivals including University of Texas Austin, University of Texas Arlington, University of North Texas, Texas A&M, and Baylor University will compete in the grudge matches.

Rocket League Tournament: The AVGL will host a one-day tournament among local schools including University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Dallas, Texas A&M, and University of North Texas.

Hailing from Chicago, the Pakistani electronic sister duo Krewella are active vocal inspirations through their music and editorials. Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf represent empowerment: personified work ethic that transcended racial and gender stigmas to achieve their dreams. From heavy rock and dance influences, the girls burst onto the scene as female pioneers of a male-dominated industry. Their bold fashion and rebellious swag inspire a strong fan following affectionately self-labeled as the #KREW. With almost 10 million in social following, they have inspired millions of today’s youth to follow their dreams.

With their platinum hit “Alive,” Krewella’s evolution into a live rock/dance hybrid act spotlights Krewella’s rare ability to play both acoustic live sets and raucous Las Vegas club residencies. They are one of the more unique music performances and experiences, and are primed to break new ground that no South Asian act ever has.

Electronic duo Pegboard Nerds concocted exuberant future bass fit for dancefloors, bright anime, or kinetic video games (a major influence on their visual aesthetic). Their sound — a little future bass, a little dubstep, a lot of chiptune — was the inspired amalgam of Alexander Odden (Norway) and Michael Parsberg-Hansen (Denmark), a pair of producers whose stage name is an anagram of their last names. Starting in 2005, they released a string of EPs and remixes, including a pair of collaborations with Splitbreed. A decade into their pairing, they started a campaign in 2015 called Operation Pink Cloud, aimed at ending breast cancer. The Pink Cloud EP featured guest turns from Max Collins, Johnny Graves, and Jonny Rose. Their fourth EP, Nerds by Nature, arrived in early 2017 and debuted in the Top 15 of Billboard’s Electronic Albums chart.

A moniker with a unique brand of EDM, Tokyo Machine combines endearing Japan-infused, 8-bit sounds with vicious, heavy basslines. His music has earned millions of plays, featurings in video games and TV, thousands of die hard fans all over the world and the support from the likes of Martin Garrix, David Guetta, Dillon Francis, Afrojack, Slushii, Herobust and dozens more. Since his debut show at EDC Las Vegas in 2017, Tokyo Machine has established himself as a chiptune stage-beast, who, alongside his little Tokimon friends, steals the show on every continent.

Other Events

Expo
In the DreamHack Expo Hall, exhibitors present the world’s newest hardware and software, games, gadgets, gaming gear and swag. They also host activities such as digital shootouts, game demos, giveaways, contests and more. Developers and programmers, streamers, pro gamers and other celebrities also frequent the expo. Exhibitors include: Monster Energy, HyperX, Good Shepherd Entertainment and more.

Community Zone
A long-time DreamHack favorite, the Community Zone gives attendees the chance to meet, get autographs, and take selfies with their favorite pro gamers, streamers, online celebrities and more.

Meet the M+ Team Method — Mythic+ has expanded the World of Warcraft PvE (Player vs. Environment) scene — and in Austin, attendees will have the opportunity to meet the Method MDI Americas team. The Method raiding team was founded in 2005 by Scott “Sco” McMillan, and it was the beginning of Method’s success in the scene. In Austin, all will have the opportunity to meet, chat and game with them.

Art Gallery: DreamHack Austin will include a gallery for talented artists to display their works in video games, tabletop, comics, anime and more.

Artist Alley: Amateur and professional artists have the opportunity to showcase their works and offer pieces for attendees to take home with them.

DIY Zone
Only DreamHack can offer the rich creative environment – and global stage – afforded to talented and aspiring game developers via the DIY Zone.

Game Jam: DreamHack is teaming up with Game Jolt to bring the Game Jam experience to Austin, a contest where indie game developers submit their theme-based creations prior to DreamHack Austin’s June event. Winners’ games will be featured during the festival.

Indie Zone

Indie game developers can enter and win a complimentary booth to showcase their game. For attendees, the Indie Zone offers a sneak peek at new games before they hit the market.

Business Zone
This Zone’s focus is to bring like minds across the industry to network, share stories, collaborate on new ventures, and more… whether it be it a new company, a new product or just a new contact.

Game Pitch Competition — Developers, innovators and other creative geniuses can hone their pitching skills, supported by an enthusiastic audience, via DreamHack Austin’s Game Pitch Competition.

B2B Lounge — This space brings like minds from across the industry together to network, share stories and collaborate on new ventures. DreamHack is a place that can inspire the start of something new… be it a new company, a new product, or just a new contact.

Workshops — Explore topics from cosplay design to game development. Leave DreamHack with a new skill or new idea!

Student Zone

Collegiate Tournaments: College gaming is taking the world by storm, and this year it is coming to DreamHack Austin together with AVGL! The collegiate League of Legends Tournament Grand Final will be played on the DreamHack Austin Main Stage. Esports grudge matches between regional universities will also face off on stage all weekend long!

Student Game Showcase: DreamHack gives student game developers a space to “market test” their latest gaming projects and network with digital entertainment industry decision makers. Students learning game design often work towards the goal of making a final project (a playable game) to complete their degree or otherwise develop on their own outside of class. However they get there, the ideas for their school projects could spawn a successful game down the road. The showcase gives students a chance to enter their game for a complimentary spot to display their work and make connections in the industry.

SessionsPanel discussions are designed to give attendees access to the people they want to see talk about the topics they care about. Recent topics have included: body hacking, how to build cosplay armor, future of MMOs, Philosophy of Game Difficulty, Intro to Video Game Design, Rapid Game Prototyping, Building an Esports Bar, Building a Collegiate Esports Team, How Personal Branding Works, Japanese Fashion Show, Console Repair Made Simple, State of the Gaming Industry, Creating a Counter-Strike Level, Esports Psychology, How to Work in the Gaming Industry, and much more!

About DreamHack

DreamHack is the world’s largest digital festival, a meeting place for gamers, with major events hosted each year in Europe and North America. Founded in 1994, DreamHack’s core has always been the LAN party where attendees bring their computer from home and set up for 3 straight days of gaming. DreamHack’s festivals have grown organically over time, becoming a platform for esports, Internet and gaming culture, intellectual and creative competitions, live music acts, lectures by industry experts, celebrity content creators, cosplayers, expo hall and much more.

DreamHack is also a production company, creating content focused on gaming, esports, music and arena events, for both traditional Television and digital content networks. In 2017, DreamHack welcomed more than 250,000 visitors to its live events and its online esports broadcasts received more than 375 million views. More information is available at dreamhack.com. DreamHack is part of leading international digital entertainment group MTG. More information at mtg.com.